Method and system for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service

1. A system for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory unit coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one memory unit having stored therein instructions which when executed by any set of the one or more processors, perform a process for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service, the process for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service including:

providing a production computing environment in which one or more virtual assets are to be deployed;

providing a virtual asset testing environment, the virtual asset testing environment being a computing environment distinct from the production computing environment;

designating a class of virtual assets to be vulnerability tested and verified;

identifying a virtual asset creation template associated with the class of virtual assets, each virtual asset of the class of virtual assets being created using the virtual asset creation template;

generating, using the virtual asset creation template, a designated test virtual asset;

deploying the designated test virtual asset in the virtual asset testing environment;

analyzing the designated test virtual asset to identify one or more vulnerabilities in the designated test virtual asset;

for at least one vulnerability identified in the designated test virtual asset, applying a remedy directly to the virtual asset creation template to transform the virtual asset creation template to a verified virtual asset creation template; and

using the verified virtual asset creation template to create a plurality of virtual assets of the virtual asset class to be deployed in the production environment.

2. The system for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service of claim 1 wherein the virtual asset creation template is selected from the group of virtual asset creation templates consisting of:

a tool and/or system for creating and managing a collection of related cloud resources;

a configuration management tool associated with the class of virtual assets;

a virtual appliance used to instantiate each virtual asset of the class of virtual assets; and

any set of steps, instructions, and/or operations used to create each virtual asset of the class of virtual assets.

3. The system for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service of claim 1 wherein the virtual asset class is a virtual asset class selected from the group of the virtual asset classes consisting of:

a virtual machine class;

a virtual server class;

a virtual database or data store class;

a specific type of instance instantiated in a cloud environment;

an application development process class; and

an application class.

4. The system for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service of claim 1 wherein each virtual asset of the class of virtual assets created using the virtual asset creation template has the same defined initial operational parameters selected from the group of operational parameters consisting of:

the function of the virtual assets of the virtual asset class;

the storage capability allocated to the virtual assets of the virtual asset class;

the processing capability allocated to the virtual assets of the virtual asset class;

the hardware allocated to the virtual assets of the virtual asset class;

the software allocated to virtual assets of the virtual asset class; and

any combination thereof.

5. The system for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service of claim 1 wherein virtual assets of the class of virtual assets created using the virtual asset creation template are deployed in the production computing environment with one or more connectivity restrictions being imposed on the virtual assets.

6. The system for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service of claim 5 wherein the designated test virtual asset of the class of virtual assets created using the virtual asset creation template is deployed in the test environment without at least one of the one or more the connectivity restrictions imposed on the virtual assets deployed in the production environment.

7. A system for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service comprising:

a production computing environment in which one or more virtual assets are to be deployed;

a virtual asset testing environment, the virtual asset testing environment being a computing environment distinct from the production computing environment;

a class of virtual assets to be vulnerability tested and verified;

a virtual asset creation template associated with the class of virtual assets, each virtual asset of the class of virtual assets being created using the virtual asset creation template;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory unit coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one memory unit having stored therein instructions which when executed by any set of the one or more processors, perform a process for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service, the process for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service including:

generating, using the virtual asset creation template, a designated test virtual asset;

deploying the designated test virtual asset in the virtual asset testing environment;

analyzing the designated test virtual asset to identify one or more vulnerabilities in the designated test virtual asset;

for at least one vulnerability identified in the designated test virtual asset, applying a remedy directly to the virtual asset creation template to transform the virtual asset creation template to a verified virtual asset creation template; and

using the verified virtual asset creation template to create a plurality of virtual assets of the virtual asset class to be deployed in the production environment.

8. The system for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service of claim 7 wherein the virtual asset creation template is selected from the group of virtual asset creation templates consisting of:

a tool and/or system for creating and managing a collection of related cloud resources;

a configuration management tool associated with the class of virtual assets;

a virtual appliance used to instantiate each virtual asset of the class of virtual assets; and

any set of steps, instructions, and/or operations used to create each virtual asset of the class of virtual assets.

9. The system for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service of claim 7 wherein the virtual asset class is a virtual asset class selected from the group of the virtual asset classes consisting of:

a virtual machine class;

a virtual server class;

a virtual database or data store class;

a specific type of instance instantiated in a cloud environment;

an application development process class; and

an application class.

10. The system for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service of claim 7 wherein each virtual asset of the class of virtual assets created using the virtual asset creation template has the same defined initial operational parameters selected from the group of operational parameters consisting of:

the function of the virtual assets of the virtual asset class;

the storage capability allocated to the virtual assets of the virtual asset class;

the processing capability allocated to the virtual assets of the virtual asset class;

the hardware allocated to the virtual assets of the virtual asset class;

the software allocated to virtual assets of the virtual asset class; and

any combination thereof.

11. The system for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service of claim 7 wherein virtual assets of the class of virtual assets created using the virtual asset creation template are deployed in the production computing environment with one or more connectivity restrictions being imposed on the virtual assets.

12. The system for providing a robust and efficient virtual asset vulnerability management and verification service of claim 11 wherein the designated test virtual asset of the class of virtual assets created using the virtual asset creation template is deployed in the test environment without at least one of the one or more the connectivity restrictions imposed on the virtual assets deployed in the production environment.